Denise Johns

Hi there. Just wanted to let you know a little bit about myself and my sport. I currently play beach volleyball full-time professionally for Great Britain. My long-term goal is to qualify for the 2012 Olympics and hopefully be in medal contention.
I started playing beach volleyball in my hometown of Copley, Ohio in the midwest. Our neighborhood is based around a lake with a soccer pitch, playground, basketball hoop, bacci ball pit and of course, a beach volleyball court. I grew up playing recreational ball with my parents and the neighbours for fun.
I played indoor volleyball in high school but switched to rowing at the University of Cincinnati for 5 years. I needed to focus on my major of Architecture and didn't want a rigid training schedule to get in the way. Rowing ended up being probably more time-consuming but I stuck with it anyways.
After I graduated in 2002, I moved to Atlanta to work and played a bit of beach volleyball on the east coast. I ended up being successful in those tournaments and decided to move to California and give it a shot on the AVP (the pro beach volleyball tour).
I played the AVP for 4 years. With my best finish of 5th place and two strong wins under my belt, I was confident to try the world tour. My dad is British, so I wanted to play for Great Britain and moved to Bath, England where the program is based to pursue my dream of making the Olympics. That's my story and now I'm one half of the number 1 team in England.